1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing control system and method, and more particularly, to a printing control system and method for controlling a printing process with enhanced operability and efficiency.
2. Discussion of the Background
As printing systems are prevalently used in a network environment, situations have become prevalent wherein a single printer handles multiple print jobs transmitted from different host devices such as personal computers (PCs) that share the printing capability over a network.
In a network printing system, multiple print jobs received at a printer are typically added to a print queue to be sequentially executed in the queue order. The printer may interrupt a running job when an error occurs, e.g., no paper or wrong size paper is loaded in a selected paper tray, or when a user issues a suspend request, e.g., for canceling a job submitted with settings that are not intended. This may delay subsequent jobs queued behind the interrupted one, reducing throughput and usability of the system as the delayed jobs typically remain suspended or pending unless the error is remedied the user submits a resume request.
Various printing methods have been proposed to address such a problem. One conventional technique provides a printing system in which a printer is able to execute pending print jobs prior to a preceding one that is interrupted due to an error. This printing system may automatically suspend pending jobs upon occurrence of an error, and where possible, resume the suspended jobs when the error is not remedied in a given time period.
Another conventional technique provides an image forming apparatus that can efficiently resume suspended print jobs by canceling a preceding job that is interrupted due to an error. In resuming printing after the error is removed, the image forming apparatus clears image data of an interrupted job without receiving a resume request, which allows swift processing of suspended jobs queued behind the cancelled one.
Both of these conventional techniques are designed for resuming a process suspended due to an error, and do not address a problem that may occur when a printing process is suspended by a user in the absence of an error. Typically, a printing process suspended according to a user-submitted suspend request cannot be resumed without a user-submitted resume request. When the user inadvertently fails to send such a resume request, this may cause the printing process to remain interrupted and thus delay processing of print jobs queued behind the interrupted one.
Therefore, there is a need for a printing system in which a suspension function is implemented with better efficiency and enhanced operability, which may be especially effective when used in a network environment.